Dr. Peter Kareiva

Dr. Peter Kareiva is the president and CEO of the Aquarium of Pacific and a research professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he was previously the director of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. He has taught at Brown University; University of Washington; University of California, Santa Barbara; Stanford University; Santa Clara University; University of Virginia; and Swedish Agricultural University in Uppsala.

In addition to numerous popular articles, Dr. Kareiva has published over 200 scientific papers and authored or edited eight books in fields ranging from conservation and climate change to genetic engineering, evolution, agriculture, and risk analysis.

In addition to his academic positions, Dr. Kareiva has served as the vice president of science for The Nature Conservancy, and director of the Division of Conservation Biology at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center. His honors include election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and election to the National Academy of Sciences. His career is unique because of how frequently he has moved between academia, the private sector, and the federal government.

He is currently co-chairing a National Academy committee on urban nature and resilience in the face of the COVID disruption and is the chief scientist for relistwolves.org, a volunteer group that is disturbed by the thoughtless and unnecessary slaughter of wolves taking place in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. He is committed to science that engages the public and believes that connecting to nature is the one thing that can overcome the deep political and social divides that plague the nation today.

Dr. Kareiva’s journey began at Duke University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in zoology and was a member of the inaugural class of undergraduates to spend a semester at Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, North Carolina.